I really don’t know where they found those books HAHAHA I think they just go to the store and pick them up randomly?

Don’t gatekeep from me Ahahha but actually it’s true and I think about this a lot. There’s a very small audience for these books. If there’s a better online community I would like to know but I don’t think there is. People who read unique books seem to be offline or just on goodreads?

If you know of a more charismatic and hilarious writer than Natalia Ginzburg let me know cause I don’t think they exist. Just read my first play by her and it doesn’t get more iconic than this. LOVE HER. English title is I married you for fun.

Listened to my first play ever (yes, the famous one where the term gaslighting stems from) because I saw a TikTok about it (why else?), and it was amazing! Somehow it never occurred to me that I could listen to plays and it would be fun! Anyway, gaslight by Patrick Hamilton was iconic!

This is my version of A little life and I’m not ok now 🥺

Every time I saw the cover of Hot Milk by Deborah Levy I dismissed it as yet another basic sad girl book. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This hit SO hard I’m unwell. Not only is it 100% what I look for in literature (surreal, hypnotic), it also talks about themes that are hyper personal to me.

Fantasy readers are the better people 😆 I like them and envy their ability to understand fantasy books. Why they follow us though is a good question 😅

I quite liked One Boat by Jonathan Buckley! It’s very much my type of book, and while I found the writing clunky in parts, there were stretches (the more philosophical ones) that flowed beautifully and got me thinking a lot (I still much prefer East-Asian lit though)

Ah, Justice for Petros’ poem!

Also tbh Italian booktok is much better just cause Italian publishers are very picky about what they translate!

It’s super weird. Honestly my strategy has been following people on goodreads with my exact same unpopular opinions, that’s where I get recs from now. Or the library, or scrolling Libby/Everand randomly

It’s really a problem because I miss out on authors because of them, since I mistrust everything now 😅

Ernaux, Zweig, Lispector, Ferrante is the starter pack of people with “taste” 🙄 I heavily dislike all 4 😅

First Sayaka Murata is a memorable moment!

Finished On the calculation of volume & We’ll prescribe you a cat for WIT month. I didn’t like either. Well, I really disliked On the calculation (I have very high standards for quiet books), We’ll prescribe you… had interesting aspects (concept & magical realism), but I’m burnt out on short stories

Always the same and never the good ones!

This is so true 😅😅😅 I’m sure they exist but I haven’t found them yet ahha

Ahahha what’s this cuteness

In my head you had no physical tbr, only library stacks 😂

Be ready to be disappointed 😂 well, the problem is her books have 0 personality. She has good ideas but the writing doesn’t shine

Reservoir B*ches didn’t impress me too much tbh. I don’t love collections made of so many very short stories, they all blur into one thing for me. They all had the same tone of voice? The writing was too modern & did we need mentions of FB and IG in every single story? Not for me 😅

Wow what a niche rec, I’ll take it 👀

Ólafsdóttir got me out of my reading slump with yet another masterpiece, and how could she have not? I am THE target audience for her philosophy-only books. This one freaked me out though.

Totally! I also used to follow them but then I blocked them all so I could get more authentic accounts. Also they don’t interact so what’s the point of just blindly following someone who doesn’t follow anyone back?

I have them all blocked cause I can’t stand the cult following they produce 😅

👀👀👀

Omg do they have a title?

WHEN

I hate studying numbers and time!

My 5th read for Women In Translation month was The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun, a very well-written and introspective Korean “thriller”. Not a new favorite, but immersive and worth the read.

I didn’t like this work by De Céspedes, even though it had great potential and started off amazingly. Forbidden Notebook was one my by best books of 2024, so it’s disappointing. But there’s nothing I hate more than a plot twist and a cinematic ending. I’m craving plotless, deeply emotional books 🥺